Clips for holding fuses in place are well known in the art. Typically, such clips are mounted on a flat plate by a screw or rivet and the clip applies spring tension to the electrical terminals of the fuse. Electrical connection to the fuse clip is made by connecting an electrical wire to the clip, usually by means of a screw terminal or solder connection. In the typical clips assembly no wrap provision is available and in fact none is feasible except via two piece construction.
While nonwire wrap clips are in widespread use, a desirable alternative, especially from a manufacturing cost standpoint, is the manufacture of the spring clip employing a wire wrap terminal and constructed from a unitary piece of conductive material. However, a problem with such an arrangement is presented in that the wire wrap terminal, in order to achieve proper electrical and mechanical contact, must have a cross-section which, when bent to accept the fuse, results in a spring tension against an inserted fuse of such a magnitude that removal of the fuse becomes difficult. When the material gauge is reduced in thickness an amount necessary to achieve proper spring tension, the material becomes too thin to allow proper electrical and mechanical contact to the wire wrap terminal.
Thus, it is an object of our invention to provide an easily manufactured unitary spring clip which meets both the fuse spring tension requirements and the wire wrap terminal requirements.
It is another object of our invention to provide a fuse clip that is manufacturable from a single piece of material, the fuse clip having both the proper spring tension for releasably retaining a fuse and the proper physical dimensions for supporting a wire wrap electrical connection, while at the same time being self-locking to a supporting base.